Accidents Don't Exist
by Avatar2233
Summary: A very special girl and Iroh keep telling Zuko that accidents don't exist. Well, they don't! Things wouldn't happen if they were not meant to happen. If something happens, it was meant to happen... otherwise, it wouldn't have happened! ZukoXoc later.
1. Chapter 1: Bad News

Accidents Don't Exist

A very special girl and Iroh keep telling Zuko that accidents don't exist. Well, they don't! Things wouldn't happen if they were not meant to happen. If something happens, it was meant to happen... otherwise, it wouldn't have happened! This is Zuko/oc (my favorite Zuko pairing).

Ch 1: Bad News

**I don't own ANYTHING. I'll leave it at that. Well, I do own my OC's. And sorry if it is short.**

Fifteen-year-old Layla brushed her hair so she wouldn't have bed head for the rest of the day. She knew she wasn't going anywhere, though.

It was still winter break, and all the fifteen-year-old Avatar fan could do was stay at home, eat, and try to be entertained. This was a very boring winter break. She loved her presents from Christmas, so it was almost like all of her emotions had deserted her for a holiday. On New Year's day, her parents did take her shopping to two malls in Nashville, Tennessee, but shopping didn't really do much. And there were lots of different sales on New Year's day. On the way back to Clarksville, Tennessee, all she did was listen to her MP3 player and taking a long nap while doing it. No matter how good and skilled her two favorite bands were--Evanescence and Within Temptaion-- she still fell asleep.

Layla felt a lot like Mai. And even though Mai wasn't even real, she understood her completely. There was nothing to do, and almost every new day was the same as the one right before it. No matter what you did on the new day, it seemed like nothing changed.

Layla sauntered around the house, twisting a lock of her long and straight jet black hair. She was alone in the one-story house. Both of her parents were at work, and she wasn't allowed to leave the house at all.

"Time for some T.V," she said to herself.

She walked into the living room and propped herself on the leather sofa. She grabbed the remote that was sitting on the wooden coffee table and clicked on the small power button. The T.V was set to CNN news.

Layla wasn't the type of person interested in the news, but something on the screen caught her eye.

On the corner of the screen was the Avatar: the Last Airbender title. On the T.V there was one of people from the news interviewing the Avatar creators Mike and Bryan!

Layla rose the volume and was on the edge of her seat. A large grin was smacked right on her face.

"We've been getting a lot of reports lately," the news guy began. "And those reports are related to your show: Avatar the Last Airbender."

"We are aware of that," Mike said.

"Do you know what people have been seeing?" the news guy asked them.

"Not really," Bryan answered.

"Maybe this footage will give you the answer," the news guy said with a serious look on his face.

There was a video clip. Buy the size of the place, Layla could tell it was at one of those conveniant stores that were near the gas pumps. It looked perfectly ordinary.

Some seconds later, blue fire showed up. Three girls broke through the glass door. One shot blue fire in some areas of the store, and the other two looked around quickly. As quickly as they came, they left, leaving the now messed-up store. The customers and the two cashiers made it out alive.

Layla's jaw had dropped while watching it. Now, it was back to the interview. Mike and Bryan's jaws had dropped as well.

The news guy continued. "Some people have said that _this _could be another sign of the apocolypse. What do _you _two have to say about it?"

"Those people are probably right," Mike said with his finger to his chin.

Layla shook her head and chuckled a little bit. "That can't actually happen. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee aren't even real. Plus, Azula should be in a mental hospital slash prison, and Mai and Ty Lee should be good people." She paused for a second, smiling. "Still, it's actually amazing they would talk about Avatar on CNN. I don't think they've ever done it."

It was now 12:00 pm. Layla already had her breakfast. She had plently of leisure time. One parent wouldn't be home until eight, and the other one wouldn't be home until nine. All the fifteen-year-old girl had to do was keep the house clean, so she wouldn't have to do much later.

Suddenly, there was a quick and loud knock on the door that almost made her jump. She sighed.

"Coming!" she shouted. She ran from the kitchen gracefully. She wasn't trying. It was just a habit.

She opened the door and gasped at the sight. Her twilight blue eyes were wide and her slightly pale skin grew a little paler. There was also a small pain in her stomach.

It was Azula, Mai, Ty Lee. Azula had an evil smirk. Ty Lee almost did, but it looked cuter on her. Mai was expressionless; the usual.

"W-what are you doing here?" Layla asked, shaking a bit.

"Is _she _it?" Ty Lee asked Azula, obviously exhausted.

Azula examined the frightened girl closely. She spoke after a few seconds. "That is definately her."

Before Layla could react in anyway, Ty Lee knocked her out.

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A few hours passed by and Layla finally woke up. She was on the floor of... the same machine that was on "The Chase"!?

Layla had a small headache and really wanted to rub her head. Too bad her hands and feet were tied.

She was also wearing different clothes. They were Water Tribe clothes. She was wearing a twilight blue tunic with a white belt, black capris pants, black ballet flat type shoes, and black wrist bands (one on each wrist).

_This is just too weird_, she thought to herself.

Layla was in the same room as Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, and the three creepy-looking mongoose-lizards.

A little more enraged than frightened, Layla shouted,"What the heck is going on!?"

Azula turned to face her. Apparantly, that smirk on her face didn't go away.

"Before you were knocked unconscious, you were scared stiff at the sight of us," Azula told her. "That's how all people react at the sight of me. Now you're being brave and yelling at me without hesitation? And when you're tied up?" She chuckled. "What an impudent girl you are. I'll make sure you'll regret that."

"Answer my question!" Layla demanded. "What's going on!? Why am I here!?"

"Impatient, are we?" Azula said. "Might as well tell you since you'll face execution in the Fire Nation." Azula paused for a little while and continued. "There is a second legend. It's just as popular as the Avatar one. It states that once every thousand years, a double bender will be born in the other world--where you come from. He or she will be the one to help the Avatar in his or her quest to save the world or just help him or her with his or her adventure. _You're_ that double bender. The last one was able to bend earth and air. Now, you can bend fire and water. We're having you executed so the Avatar can't get any more help."

"Speaking of the Avatar," Ty Lee interrupted. "We found an easy-to-follow trail."

"Really?" Azula asked.

"Yes. Their bison is shedding and there are clumps of white fur on the ground."

"Does the captain know?" Azula asked.

"He's following it, so he knows," Mai answered.

"Excellent," Azula hissed with an evil smile.

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Hope you guys enjoyed it! Tell me what you think!


	2. Chapter 2: Meeting Seminew People

**Ch 2: Meeting Semi-new People **

**I don't own anything! I just own my OC's. And I know I'm repetitive. I'm working on that little problem, as well as my little describing problem. And some of these sentences aren't mine. I took some from the show. I did it to help it flow.**

_I'm going to be executed in the Fire Nation and I just found out I am a double bender!? _Layla thought. This was so exciting and so terrifying at the same time.

The machine was going really fast, then it stopped all of a sudden. Layla hit the metal wall really hard. "Ow," she mumbled.

"The bison's near," Azula hissed. "Let's go."

The large metal door opened. The three girls climbed on the big mongoose-lizards and left. Or almost left. They stopped when they were about five yards away from the machine. Ty Lee noticed the door was left wide open. "I hope she doesn't escape," Ty Lee said with a little concerned look.

"She won't," Azula promised with a smirk. "Besides, if she did, I'll make sure that'll be the last she'll do."

Then they were gone.

As soon as the tied up Layla couldn't hear the steps of the mongoose-lizards, she hopped out of the machine like a little frog or toad or something.

When she was far enough, she stopped hopping. An idea came to her; and it wasn't an idea she was proud of. She even grimaced a little bit at the idea. Layla looked at the rope that tied her hands and grimaced again. _I hope it doesn't taste bad_, she thought with her nostrils flaring a little bit.

She untied her hands with her mouth with her nostrils still flaring. Then she untied her feet with her hands.

"Gross," she whined as she tried to get the horrible taste off her tounge. But this wasn't the time to be whining or complaining. It was time to look for someone; someone like Avatar Aang and his friends.

Layla looked at her surroundings. It was winter in the real world and spring in the Avatar world.

She was beside a shallow river. There was something that looked incredibly familiar in the water. She walked closer to it and scrutinized it. Clumps of wet, white fur.

"Appa," she whispered a little exuberantly.

Layla scrutinized the rest of her surroudings. There was a trail of fur and a single set of mongoose-lizard footprints. Then, there were two sets going in a different direction.

Layla kept walking. She was following the trail of fur. That was a little scary. She knew that would lead her to the town, and the town would take her to, not only Avatar Aang, but to Azula as well.

While she was walking, she tried practicing her firebending. Firebending was first because as she followed the trail of white, bison fur, she was getting farther and farther away from the river.

The now determined teenager began inhaling, exhaling, and concentrating on the heat of the sun. The last exhale was quicker and little rougher. She was now holding a small, bright flame. A smile grew on her face. For her own safety, she turned both of her hands into fists and the flame went out.

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About thirty minutes of walking later, Layla could feel and hear the ground rumbling. The next thing she heard was an elderly man saying, "Oooh. That really hurt my tailbone."

Next thing she knew, rock popped up out of the ground under _her_.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" she screamed as she was flying up then falling down. She landed on someone's back.

Layla rolled off of the person's back and looked. Her eyes widened, and she stood up swiftly.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright," the man interrupted calmly while getting up. It was Iroh. "It wasn't your fault." He smiled sweetly.

The two heard some footsteps walking towards them. A young, blind girl walked through the nearby bushes in a fighting stance. There was a hard expression on her face. _Toph! _Layla thought joyfully. _I can't believe so much has happened all in one day!!_

"Hi," Layla said. "Sorry if we startled you."

Toph's expression softened a bit. "That's okay. Sorry I hit you two in the butt."

Iroh and Layla laughed. Toph joined them in their laughter.

"Why don't you two drink some tea with me?" Iroh suggested.

"Okay," Layla said, smiling a sweet smile.

"Yeah, why not?" Toph agreed.

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"Here's your tea," Iroh said, giving them both a small cup of tea. "You both seem a little young to be travelling alone."

"You seem a little old," Toph commented. Iroh laughed. "So," Toph went on,"you think I'm helpless and can't take care of myself, huh?"

"Not at all," Iroh said.

"But you wouldn't even let me pour my own cup of tea," Toph argued.

"I did that because I wanted to," the old man explained. "Plus, I gave this girl tea, too."

"People always see me and think I'm weak," the earthbender continued, almost ignoring the other statement that Iroh said. "They just wanna take care of me. But I can take care of myself _by _myself.

"Hm, you sound a lot like my nephew," Iroh said. "Always thinking you need to do things on your own without anyone's support. There's nothing wrong with letting people help you."

Layla didn't want anyone to think that she knew them and everything that happened. So, she jumped into the conversation.

"So, where is your nephew?" Layla asked.

"I've been tracking him actually," Iroh answered.

_Good. They don't suspect anything_, Layla thought.

"Well, is he lost?" Toph asked.

There was a slightly concerned and sad look on the elderly man's face. "Well, a little bit. His life has recently changed and he's going through very difficult times. He is trying to figure out who he is and he went away."

"So, now you're following him, huh?" Layla said.

"I know he doesn't really want me around right now, but, if he needs me, I'll be there," Iroh said.

"Well, your nephew is _very _lucky to have you as an uncle," Toph said, smiling. She put down her now empty cup, stood up, and thanked him.

"My pleasure. Having tea with a stranger is one of life's true delights," Iroh said.

"No... it's what you said," Toph explained. "It helped me a lot."

"I'm glad," Iroh said.

"Well, I think I should be going, too," Layla said, putting down _her _now empty cup. She stood up, about to leave. "I don't want to bother you. Thanks a lot for the tea, sir."

Iroh grabbed her wrist gently. "Don't go."

_Oh no_, she thought, looking down at him. "Uh...yes?" she said with a raised eyebrow.

"Would it be okay if you were to stay with me and help me find my nephew?" Iroh asked.

Layla thought this though in her mind quickly. _If I were to follow Toph, I would end up in that town. That would mean I'd run into Azula. No water would be available, so I would only be able to use firebending. And when Iroh gets hurt, Zuko would just get furious and have me run off. I'd end up with them. When I explain everything, they'll most likely let me join._

"Uh, sure," Layla said. She sat back down.

Iroh realized something. "I believe I haven't told you my name. I am Iroh."

"Iroh?" Layla repeated, still pretending. She was a very good actress. "As in like... the once great general from the Fire Nation?"

"That's me," Iroh said, a little proudly. "What's your name?"

"It's, uh, Mei-yun. I'm from a Fire Nation colony."

"A colonial," Iroh sighed. "Interesting.... So, what are you doing out here? Do you have a family?"

_Think, think, think, think._ "Yeah. I have a family. We're just a little separated for now. I'm supposed to go to Ba-sing-se. That's where we're going to meet."

"Why are you meeting there? It's not like Ba-sing-se is going to welcome Fire Nation people." Then he took a good look at Layla's clothes. "Where did you get those Water Tribe clothes anyway?"

"Well, we want to make a fresh start. We're kind of tired of the way people from our town treat and talk about the people of the Earth Kingdom." Layla really made it sound like the truth. She looked down at her clothes and answered the other question easily. "About the clothes... I come from and old colony that was founded many many years ago. When Water Tribe warriors back then attacked, they stopped and captured them. They thought the clothes would make great disguises."

"Actually, that sounds like a very good idea." He paused for a moment. "I mean the Ba-sing-se idea."

"Well, it is the safest place in the world from the Fire Nation," Layla added. She almost broke out laughing at that untrue statement. "And we're not just going there for the safety. It's also to make that fresh start."

Iroh stood up slowly. "Well, time to be moving on. We have to catch up to my nephew."

Layla smiled sweetly and got up, too. "Alright."

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They made it to the abandoned town (well, for now it isn't abandoned, right?). They missed some of the action. Zuko had been knocked unconcious, and Aang was fighting the evil witch named Azula with his friends.

Iroh and Layla helped Zuko get up. When he saw Layla, he looked at his uncle questioningly. "She's on our side," he convinced Zuko. They they joined the fight. Layla was firebending like she had been doing it all her life (or watching it for three years of her life).

They eventually had Azula surrounded.

To Layla's surprise, Azula hadn't mentioned that she was a double bender. Well, she couldn't read Azula's mind: _Well, her execution will come sooner than I thought. Instead of waiting, I'll just capture her and just take her there quickly. I won't have to capture, Zuko, Iroh, and the Avatar first. That'll be her penalty for escaping. And I can do it without telling them. They'll just come after her and be in my way if they find out._

"Well, look at this," Azula said. "Enemies and traitors, all working together."

Iroh was looking at Toph and saw she was with the young Avatar and his friends.

While he was distracted, Azula shot him with a blast of her deadly blue fire.

Zuko and Layla cried out in horror and shock. Everyone else just stared with horror and shock on their faces.

Everyone shot as Azula. There was an explosion, then... smoke. Pretty soon the smoke cleared, showing the fact that Azula had eluded them, and showing Zuko kneeling next to his uncle. Everyone walked forward some steps to take a closer look. They would've taken some more steps closer if Zuko hadn't turned around and shouted," GET AWAY FROM US!" He was also talking to--or yelling at-- Layla. He didn't care if Iroh said Layla was on their side or not. All he wanted was to be alone.

"Zuko, I can help!" Katara offered.

Zuko refused. "LEAVE!" he shouted once more, this time lashing fire out at them.

A little frightened, everyone ran off to go back to the bison, Appa. Along the way, Layla told them everything. Including the two facts that she was to be executed in the Fire Nation and needed to be a secret.

They kept flying until they were sure they had reached a safe place. Everyone instantly fell asleep. During the flight, Layla had developed a large headache. It was one of those sleep-it-out ones.

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**I know this chapter was worse than the last, but I'm trying! But, stay tuned for more!**

**Oh, and I'm going to challenge myself a little bit! I'll work on two fanfics at the same time, even though I'm a beginner at this! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys! Well, here's chapter 3! I own nothing except for my oc's! **

Chapter 3: Training

The next day came. The sun was shining brightly and Aang was the very first one up.

"I'm learning earthbending today!" he exclaimed exuberantly while hopping up into the air. "This place is perfect for it!" Layla was the second person to get up.

"Yeah, Aang," Layla grumbled while rubbing her eyes. "This place is so... uh... rocky." Then she rubbed her temples with her fingertips. _What episode is this episode again? _the fifteen-year-old wondered. She tried so hard to remember. Then... nothing. What was going on? Why couldn't she remember it? She tried remembering any episode before "The Chase"episode, and she remembered those. Then, she tried remembering any episode after that one. Still nothing! _The headache!_ she thought. _It took away all of my memories. Well, fine! If that's what my mind wants, I'll let it forget everything. I'll figure it out on my own! I don't need it's help! _

Toph was the third person to get up. Like Aang, she wasn't sleepy at all. In the process of making her appearance, she destroyed her earth tent. "Good morning, earthbender student!" she greeted in an announcer-type voice.

"Good morning, sifu Toph," Aang greeted respectfully.

Katara woke up and said sleepily,"Hey, you never call me sifu Katara."

Aang looked at Katara a little nervously, scratched his bald head for a moment, and said,"Well, if you think I should."

"So, Layla," Toph said to the still-sleepy fifteen-year-old girl. "You can't master earthbending or airbending?"

"That's right," Layla answered. "I can only do waterbending and firebending." She yawned.

"Well, I guess you'll miss out on all the fun," Toph said.

With the way Toph said _that_ statement, Layla was glad she wasn't an earthbender. But the thought of practicing waterbending with Katara made her smile. Katara would be an easy-to-get-along-with type of person. She became more awake and energetic. "Well, I guess I'll go and try to wake up Sokka," she suggested in a brighter tone.

She ran off to Sokka and happily shouted,"Sokka! Wake up!" Layla was almost never _this _bright and smiling when she was in the real world.

Sokka turned his head slowly; his eyes were a little opened. He looked sleepy and grumpy being woken up. "Oh, sorry," Layla whispered.

Katara also brightened up a bit. She did her hair and threw her brush to Layla. All _she_ did was brush her hair and that was it. She was never the type of person to do her hair into different styles. She only like that when other people did that.

The now jumpy Katara skipped over to Layla with a beautiful grin on her face. "Are you ready to start waterbending training?" she asked.

"Well, okay," Layla answered. "Uh, Katara?"

"Yes?"

"Do we have to have swim suits on?" Layla asked.

"Yep! Why?"

"Well, I don't have any," Layla mumbled, twisting a lock of her hair.

Katara scratched her head, thinking. "Well... to be honest, I use my under clothes." Katara giggled. "They make good swim suits."

_Now that I think of it, I did find out I was wearing different underwear when I saw my clothes had changed. _"Okay," Layla said. "Well, let's go find a place to practice!"

The two were on the way to find a nice place to waterbend. Aang was already working on his earthbending with his teacher. As Katara and Layla were walking by, they exchanged some "hi"s and "see ya"s.

"So, do you know any waterbending?" Katara asked curiously.

"Well, I only know a little bit," Layla admitted. She rubbed her chin with her finger, thinking of something. "Hm, I suppose I'll show you what I know, you can perfect whatever needs perfecting, and then you can show me the things I don't know."

"Sounds like a plan," Katara replied with a smile.

As the two girls were walking, they found more and more green plants. When they stopped, they saw a plethora of green plants surrounding a pool of water. There was also a plethora of plants in the water. The water was clear and waist-deep. That looked like a good place to practice. It also looked like a nice place to relax and cool down a bit. But relaxing would have to wait. Now was the time to be practicing.

They each took off their over clothes and stepped into the pool of water. Katara stood next to Layla.

"Show me what you know," Katara told her new pupil. Layla nodded with a nervous look on her face.

She started with the most basic move: pushing and pulling the water. Once that was done, she did what Katara called in "The Waterbending Scroll" episode, streaming the water. Then, she tried the big, powerful wave Katara had attempted and Aang actually did in the episode.

Katara scrutinized everything. She came to a conclusion. "You don't need to work on anything. So, was that the first time you waterbended? They don't have that in your world?"

Layla shook her head. "No. I wish they did, though... but there are so many bad people, probably more than this world, that would abuse that power."

"True. Well, time for some lessons," Katara announced. Layla smiled.

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Some time passed by, and Layla was getting better and better.

"You're almost as good as me and Aang," Katara commented joyfully.

"Do you wanna stop for a while and check on Aang?" Layla asked.

"Sure."

They dried off and put on their over clothes. Then, they were off. As soon as they were just a few yards away from the pool of water, they wished they were back in. It was so hot. Almost too hot to be spring. It seemed more like summer. Layla was glad her clothes changed into something suitable for that weather. It would've been horrible walking in winter pajamas.

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They finally made it. Aang was standing in an earthbending stance. Toph was walking around him and talking to him. Katara and Layla couldn't hear very well from where they were standing. They noticed Toph pointing at something and looked in that direction. There was a cliff; and on that cliff was a round boulder that could squish part of a train in the real world. It appeared to be looking down at Aang.

"I'm going to roll that boulder down the cliff," they heard Toph say as they walked closer and closer,"and I'm gonna see if you have the guts to take that boulder." That was when Katara and Layla began jogging toward them with slightly concerned looks on their faces.

"Toph, there _must_ be a better way to do this," Katara suggested worriedly.

"Actually," Toph thought for a moment,"there _is _better way." She took Aang's orange belt and put it over his worried, gray eyes like a blindfold. She continued,"_This_ way you'd be able to sense the boulder coming at you. Thanks a bunch, Katara."

Aang looked a little indignant and sarastically said,"Yeah, _thanks_ Katara."

She laughed nervously.

Then, Toph rolled the boulder down the cliff straight toward Aang. Katara covered her mouth with both of her hands. Momo, who was now sitting on top of her head, covered his big, green eyes with his ears. Layla covered her eyes with both hands.

At the last minute, Aang jumped out of the way.

As he was taking off the belt blindfold, Toph was running toward him a very disapproving look on her face. "What the heck was _that_!?" she bellowed angrily.

"I panicked. Sorry Toph," Aang apologized.

"Yeah, you are sorry!" she shouted in his face. "Instead of jumping out of the way like the frightened little girl you are, you could've just stood there and get squished instead!"

"Toph, try not to be so harsh," Layla told the blind earthbender.

"People can't just treat Aang like a delicate little girl, you know," Toph said.

"That may be true," Layla admitted,"but still. Try not to be too harsh."

"Aang, let's just work on waterbending for a while," Katara suggested with her sweet and comforting voice. Momo had jumped off her head and went back to camp.

"Okay," Aang agreed with a depressed voice.

"Fine, splash around until you feel better," Toph said.

Layla went with them. She didn't feel like waterbending, but she did feel like dipping her feet and cooling off for a while.

When she felt that her feet were done, she decided to go ahead and look for Sokka since the sun was beginning to set.

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Layla could hear some Sokka-grunting and could even hear him speaking to...himself for someone else or something else?

"Sokka?" Layla said loudly. "Sokka? You around here?"

"Layla?" came a funny sounding voice (to her anyway). "Layla, is that you? I need some help down here!"

Yep, that was Sokka. And what was with this "down here" stuff?

Layla followed to where his voice was coming from, walking over and stepping on rocks and plants along the way. When she made it, she could actually see what he meant by "down here". Layla started bursting out laughing all of a sudden.

"Ha, ha, very funny," he commented sarcastically. "Now help me out of this whole!"

Layla walked around him, examining the hole Sokka was in. It was too small to yank him out of. Only an earthbender could do this. When the fifteen-year-old girl heard something walking, she turned around quickly. It was some little animal. It had paws and a little moose-like head.

"What is _that_?" Layla asked, pointing at the cute and fuzzy little, animal.

"A sabertooth-moose-lion cub," Sokka answered. "Layla, this is Foofoo-cuddlypoops. Foofoo-cuddlypoops, Layla."

"Aw!" Layla said with a large and sweet smile. "He's sooooo cute!" But that smile went away when a thought had come to her. "Uh," she started nervously,"where is the......... mother?" She squeaked at the last word. The type of animal Sokka had said started scaring her more and more with each passing second.

Finally Aang showed up, but as soon as he was there, a very very very large sabertooth-moose-lioness was standing right behind Layla and Sokka's haid. Sokka and Layla were completely still, obviously petrified from fright.

_This is really bad_, Aang thought as he was running toward them. The animal took a few steps back and ran toward him, jumping over Layla and Sokka in the process. Finally, Layla was able to move again.

"Aang, try to earthbend Sokka out!" Layla commanded while she and Aang were running around the creature.

"I can't, remember!?" Aang reminded her.

Aang jumped on a tall rock, attempting to distract the monster. "Yoohoo! Over here!" The animal turned to him. Aang was doing his little goofy dance. The animal went after him and rammed its antlers into the rock by mistake. Aang helped it out with his airbender, when it was out, he airbended, making it go up in the air and landing right behind its sitting animal child. Then it left.

The three could hear some clapping. They turned to where it was coming from. Toph had been watching the whole thing... sitting cross-legged on a rock!?

"You...were...there the whole entire time!?" Aang shouted angrily.

"Got that right," Toph answered him, staying calm. She jumped off of the rock and walked toward.

Aang began yelling right in front of her face, _to_ her face. "Why didn't you help!? The _least _you could've done was getting Sokka out while me and Layla were dealing with that sabertooth-moose-lioness!"

"I believe you're ready now," Toph said.

"Don't change the subject, Toph!"

"Look!" she shouted. "You just stood up to monster and, what's even more impressive, you stood up to _me_. I think you're ready to try to earthbend now. You've got the stuff, Aang."

Aang earthbended the rock Toph was standing on and... it actually broke!

"That's fantastic, Aang!" Layla exclaimed joyfuly. "Now get Sokka out."

"Better let _me_ do it, you two," Toph said. "Aang's still a beginner. He might accidentaly crush him."

Sokka was smiling. "Yeah, no crushing please," he said.

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They finally made it back to camp. Toph was leading the way and Sokka was limping, using Aang and Layla to keep him in balance. Katara was the only one at the camp. When she saw her lost-for-a-few-hours brother, she ran and gave him a hug.

"Katara, I can earthbend now!" Aang exclaimed to her.

"That's great, Aang!" she replied. "You wanna show me a move?"

"Sure!" He looked around the camp to find a big, nearby rock and found one. "Check this out!" He made it move with his earthbending!

"Great!" The sun was still setting.

"Do you guys wanna start flying now?" Layla asked. "We can eat on Appa on the way to where ever we're going."

"Sure!" Aang agreed happily.

The gang packed up everything, hopped on Appa, and flew away.

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**I was lazy at the ending. Sorry! lol**


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing except for my oc's and stuff. Everything else belongs to the Avatar creators Mike and Bryan. **

Chapter 4: Talent (AKA: The Greedy Sokka chapter!)

The gang had finally landed. They had landed in a clearing in the middle of a forest that was near a calm and comfortable, little town. Ooooooh.

"Ah," Katara sighed, satisfied with the area they had picked. "This looks like a nice spot. Flat ground. Nice, clear area."

The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and the flowers were blooming. This was a very decent place. Still, there were lots of other good areas to land at. Each of those other areas basically had the same characteristics as this one.

Everyone jumped off of Appa and started setting up camp.

Toph realized something. "Oh, Layla. Do you want me to make you an earth tent?"

Layla looked at Toph and replied,"Sure. Thanks. Um, just don't put in a door. I'm not really an earthbender."

"Kay," Toph said. Then, quickly, she made the doorless tent.

"Does anyone want me to do anything?" Layla asked everyone. It seemed like everyone had something to do except for her. She hated feeling useless during something like this.

Katara was the one to answer. "Well, you could help me start the fire."

Layla smiled. _I can test my firebending skills!_

The happy fifteen-year-old jogged toward the fireplace Katara had already made with Sokka.

"Would it be okay if I were to firebend?" Layla asked.

"Sure, go ahead," Katara answered, looking at her, then the fireplace.

Layla looked at the dry wood and then closed her eyes. She took deep breaths with her hands over the dry wood. Then, she quickly opened her eyes while she let out the last and very quick breath. There was a fire! The young double-bender was happy that she made that fire all by herself, but she wasn't happy with the fact that she had to work _that_ hard for the fire to show up.

Katara thanked her new friend and Layla said "you're welcome".

"Well, I'm gonna walk around the forest," Layla announced.

"Be careful," Katara said.

"Sure, sure."

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Layla walked aimlessly and slowly around the dense forest around the camp. The sun was beginning to set, so it was getting a little bit dark. The double-bender was just fine with that. It's not like she wasn't going to see at all in the dark.

The double-bender began singing to herself. Singing was something she loved doing. People had always said she was so talented at singing. People had also said she should be a singer. No matter what, she denied it. She had always said she did it so much it was just a habbit. Nothing more, nothing less. Although she denied it, becoming a great singer was a small ambition of her's.

The song she was singing was called Beautiful Woman. The song was from a Chinese movie called House of Flying Daggers. It was such an awesome movie. It was about a beautiful blind girl who was also a very talented dancer and fighter (with daggers and stuff like that). The song was in Chinese, but there was an English translation that Layla remembered. There was no English version on the internet or anything like that. Still, Layla sung the English and sometimes the Chinese. (check out the song. It's only in Chinese)

_English:_

_A rare beauty from the North_

_She's the finest lady on Earth_

_A glance from her and the whole city bows down_

_A second and the nation falls in ruins_

_There exists no city or nation_

_That's been more cherished than her_

It was such a beautiful and haunting song. The fact that it was both of those things made it her favorite foreign song.

It began to get really dark. At least she could still see. She walked back to the campsite.

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Everyone sat around the fire eating the dinner Sokka had found and Katara had cooked with her amazing cooking skills. Layla was in between Aang and Toph. Toph was in betweem Layla and Sokka. Sokka was in between Toph and Katara. Katara was in between Sokka and Aang.

Sokka grinned at something. It didn't seem like a joyful, happy type of grin. It was more of a... scheming type...?

"So, Layla," Sokka began, kind of smug. "Did you happen to hear that singing?"

Layla blushed (she does that a lot when she finds out people hear her) and said,"Yeah, you guys weren't really supposed to hear that." She giggled nervously.

"I'm glad we did," Aang said.

"Especially me," Sokka added.

_What the heck is he thinking? _Layla wondered, raising her eyebrow.

"We are low on money," Sokka said and then paused. "And there is a town nearby."

_Oh God, no, _Layla thought miserably.

"How about you sing to the town and make money that way?" Sokka said what everyone thought he was going to say. He wrapped his arm around her...and it was definately not the "I'm so in love with you" kind of way. Layla thought she saw that he had dollar signs for eyes.

Katara slapped her forehead. "Oh, Sokka," she sighed.

"I don't know whether I should be happy, or greatful, or embarrassed, or scared, or what," Layla said pushing Sokka away from her.

"Well," Toph began,"you do have a great voice. I know a lot of people sound good, believe me. My parents would sometimes hire entertainers, like singers and stuff. But... there is _something_ about your voice."

"Wow, Toph," Sokka commented. "Why don't you speak to any of _us _like that? That actually sounded like a sweet and innocent person." He laughed.

"Yeah, don't get used to it," Toph chuckled.

"Well, thank you, Toph," Layla said greatfully. "I actually feel that that is the truth."

"Not that I'm encouraging Sokka's little plan or anything, but we do need the money," Aang stated.

"And of course we are too lazy to do anything to make the money," Toph added.

Layla rolled her eyes. "Fine," she finally said, annoyed and irritated. She sighed. "This will be scary."

"What?" Katara asked. "You've never had any experiences in performing?"

"No, not at all," Layla admitted. She thought for a moment and continued,"Well, I'm in a choir. Never had any solos, though."

"Isn't a choir like... a big musical group?" Aang asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," the fifteen-year-old girl answered. "It's basically a large group of singers."

"So, we'll start the money-making process tomorrow at, say... noon?" Sokka asked smugly.

Layla sighed. "Kay."

When dinner was finished, Katara and Layla helped each other with the dishes and packed them up while everyone else was already in their tents. So, they were the last people to go to sleep.

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The next day came and Sokka was the happiest of all the other guys. Layla seemed to be either the most miserable or the most scared.

"So, what do we do to get started?" Layla sighed. "Do we just find the most crowded place and I just start or something?"

"I'm not really sure," Sokka admitted, stroking his chin with his finger. "But I like your idea, so we'll just go ahead with that."

"Sokka, there are some cases where I feel like I should slap you silly... and I met you about two or three days ago or something. And you'd have to be reallyannoying for me to want to do that _real_ badly." She giggled.

They were walking. The town wasn't that far away from the camp. There was going to be no music at all. It was all going to be acapella (no music). Layla had every song planned out in her head.

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They made it to the town. It seemed like your average, comfy town that wasn't too big or too small. It reminded everyone of Gaoling, the town where Aang, Katara, and Sokka found Toph.

Katara turned around and saw that Aang wasn't wearing his hat to cover up the arrow. "Aang," she whispered. Then she pointed a finger at her head. "Put on your coolie hat."

"Oh yeah!" he whispered back. Aang was only holding it in his hands. Then he put it on quickly.

Layla nervously twisted a lock of her black hair. "I hope you guys weren't lying about what I sound like."

"We were telling the truth," Katara assured her. "If it wasn't, Sokka wouldn't have come up with the idea in the first place."

"That is," Layla paused and thought for a moment. "Probably true."

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After a short while, they finally found the area with the most people. Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph took a few steps back to give poor Layla some room. Before she began, Sokka put a cup on the ground a few feet away from her.

"Great, Sokka," Layla commented sarcastically. "Now I'll look like a desperate hobo."

"We need _some _place to put the money," Sokka said.

Layla sighed,"You owe me _a lot, _Sokka. And you should be glad I'm not the type of person that makes you owe so much it should be illegal."

Then she began, starting with the song Beautiful Woman. That song alone grabbed several people's attention.

The second song was Before the Dawn by Evanescence. That was almost like a Romeo & Juliet song. That grabbed some more attention.

The third song was Perfect Harmony by Within Temptation. That was like a fantasy land song. More attention.

The fourth song was Like You by Evanescence. The singer wrote for her dead sister. More attention.

Her fifth and final song was The Swan Song by Within Temptation. That was just a song that was plain pretty. When she was at the middle of the song, the whole town was standing around Layla--who was actually enjoying herself-- and stared at her in complete awe.

Layla bowed at the end of her performance. The people clapped, cheered and mumbled to each other about the performance.

Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph were still at the front. Looking at Sokka made Layla look down at the cup. It was overflowing with copper and gold pieces! Some of the pieces were even scattered around it! To Layla, this was a truly great epoch. She would never forget this moment. _My very first solo performance, _she thought happily. _TAKE THAT HANNAH MONTANA!!!_

This was incredible.

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Everyone stopped clapping and cheering after a few minutes. The guys decided to go shopping a little while. They bought some food, water, and stuff that wasn't needed, only wanted.

The guys were walking out of the town. Layla and Sokka seemed to have the biggest grins. They had bought a sack and had put the money in it. After shopping, they still had a ton of money. The money was what Sokka was giddy about. Layla was giddy because of the fact the whole town had watched and cheered for her. It was such a great feeling.

"Sokka, you don't owe me anything for now," Layla laughed, gently jabbing her elbow at his ribs. Everyone laughed.

It was only in the middle of the afternoon.

"We don't really have anything else to do," Aang told everyone. "Do you guys just wanna go ahead and leave?"

"Please?" Layla chuckled, pointing at Sokka with her thumb.

Then they left.

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**Hi guys! Well, I was a little lazy with the ending again. Sorry! Hope you liked it by the way. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I own nothing except for my oc's and stuff. Everything else belongs to the Avatar people. **

Chapter 5: LIbrary in the Desert part 1

"So, Aang," Layla said. "Can I try that flute?" The

The gang was close to the Si-Wong desert. Aang was sitting on the hard, dry ground with his legs crossed. In one of his hands, he was holding a wooden flute. There were holes in the ground surrounding the gang.

"So, what's out here?" Katara asked.

"Well, there's a lot, actually," Toph began, but Aang interrupted.

"Don't spoil it, Toph. Here Layla. You try." Aang handed curious Layla the flute.

She blew and a sweet sound came out of it. About a second after the note was played, a groundhog or prairi dog type animal popped out of the ground, imitating the sound. Layla smiled and played some more. More of those creatures popped out. One copying one sound. Momo tried to catch them whenever they came out. Almost like wack-a-mole. Katara giggled at the silly little lemur.

Aang stood up and walked toward his friends. Layla gave him back the flute. Aang put the flute into a bag, and then out of the bag, he pulled out a map and opened it. He showed it to Katara.

"Where do you want to go, Katara?" Aang asked her. Katara looked at the map, thinking of where to go. Then she made up her mind.

"How about the... Misty Palms Oasis?"

Aang looked down at the map and said,"I've been there. It's a very relaxing and refreshing place. It's one of nature's wonders."

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It did not look like a wonder when they got there. It looked like a very small, raggedy town. What used to look like a great iceburg, was so small and getting smaller from the heat. Sandbenders and other locals didn't do much besides sitting, standing, and leaning against stuff. A black dog was licking the ice.

The gang entered the little fruity drinks bar. Sokka drooled as he saw the man behind the counter make a mango-flavored beverage.

"I suppose I'll have one of those delicious, fruity beverages," Sokka said. He turned and looked at his friends. Everyone wanted one.

As they started walking, a man accidentaly spilled his mango drink on Aang. Before he could apologize, Aang smiled at him and said,"No worries. I clean up easy." Then, he used his airbending to clean himself. The man stared at him in shock... a happy shock.

"You're and _air _nomad... right in front of me," he said. "A living relic. I am professor Zei. I am head of anthropology at Ba-sing-se University." The professor walked closer to Aang, and took a measuring instrument out of his bag. He measured Aang's head and put the measurement tool back in his bag. Zei took Aang's hand and curiously examined the blue arrow on his hand. "Which of the Air temples do _you _hail from?"

"The Southern," he answered.

"Okay," professor Zei replied. "And what was the primary agricultural product of your people?"

"Uh, fruit pies...?" Aang answered, a bit unsure of it.

"Truly fascinating, that's one for the journal." He went through his bag, took out his journal, and wrote the new and fascinating--to him-- information. When he was finished, he put the journal back in his bag.

"And this is Layla," Aang told Zei, pointing at Layla. Layla would've used an alias or something. What kind of person in the Avatar world was named "Layla?"

Zei stepped forward to examine her. "What kind of name is that?"

"Um, it means 'born at night'," she told him. She that it meant that. She just forgot the language. Not that Zei or anyone else in the Avatar world would understand.

Aang jumped into their conversation. "She's the doublebender."

The professor's eyes widened and a grin grew on his face. "That means you're from the other world! Tell me, what country are you from in that world?"

"America," she answered.

"That's a very unusual name," he commented. "But it also sounds very pretty." He grabbed his journal from his bag again, wrote down the new information, and put it back in his bag again.

"Anyway, Professor Zei," Layla was the one to begin. "Do you have a decent map? Our's isn't exactly... accurate."

The professor went through his bag and took out a map. He handed it to Layla. Layla examined the map and looked at Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph. "There's no Fire Nation on this map," she told her friends. "It's just a big desert." She looked at the different trails on the map that were drawn by Zei. Each trail went a different way, and each trail ended at a dead end. Layla turned to Zei. "What were you trying to do in the desert?"

"Well, I was looking for a libary. It's buried in the desert." This topic would interest Layla if she knew how to read Chinese calligraphy.

Sokka looked at Aang. "Aang, I do believe it's my turn to pick a vacation. I would like to spend _my _vacation AT THE LIBRARY!!" He pointed his finger at the ceiling as he shouted the last three words.

"What about me?" Toph complained. "When do I get to pick?"

"You're a little new to the group. So both you _and _Layla can't pick yet." That wasn't fair... or maybe it was.

The group, with professor Zei, exited the little bar-type place. When they were outside, they could see sandbenders trying to steal Appa.

Zei ran up to the sandbenders saying,"Shoo" as if they were animals bullying another animal. "Away from the bison!" They just walked away, looking at Zei with angry expressions on their faces.

"Well, let's go," Katara told everyone.

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They flew over the desert. It was very hot, but it was a good thing they had Appa. It felt like a cool wind was blowing on them as the flying bison flew. Katara, Sokka, Layla, and Zei looked around for any sign the library was near while Aang controlled Appa.

Layla looked around, then, after a few seconds with the feeling someone was looking at her, she turned her head and saw the it was Zei that was staring at her.

"What?" she said.

"I'm still trying to figure out your world," the professor said. "How different is the technology?"

"_Way_ more advanced than the technology of this world," she laughed. And then she thought for a moment. "And, in a way, it's a little worse than this world's."

Everyone raised an eyebrow. "How would advanced technology be worse?" Sokka asked.

"Well, there's more pollution and stuff like that," Layla answered. "There's always going to be at least one downside to every invention. And inventions can lead to terrible world." Everyone could feel a dark atmosphere after she said that last sentence.

Everyone contined looking. Sokka was using a telescope and,"There!" He pointed down. A tall tower with a single window poked out of the ground. "What's that?" He turned to Zei. "Can I see the picture of the library?"

Zei went through his bag and took the picture out.

Appa landed in front of the tower, and everyone jumped off of him. Zei gave the picture to Katara. Katara looked down at the picture and then looked up at the tower. She looked at the picture again.

"It's not what we're looking for," she sighed. "The building in the picture is enormous."

Layla and Sokka looked at the picture.

"This _is _what we're looking for," Sokka said.

"See?" Layla said, one hand pointing at the tower and one pointing at the tower in the picture. "The spire of the library is poking out of the ground."

"So, it's completely buried," Katara said.

"The library is buried?!" Zei yelled. "My life's ambition is full of sand!" He took a small shovel out of his bag and spoke in a calmer and happier tone. "Well, time to start excavating." And he began digging.

Toph placed a hand on the spire of the library. "Actually, everything is still intact. It's _huge_."

"So, I guess we're going in...?" Layla said.

"You guys can," Toph said. "I'd rather be out here than a giant library."

And they went in. Sokka had tied a rope to his boomerang. He through the boomerage and it caught on to the window. Sokka, Aang, Katara, Layla, and professor Zei climbed up the rope, and once they made it to the window, they climbed down the rope.

Inside was so beautiful. It was so detailed and big. The place had a bit of a green glow to it. And it was definately a lot cooler in there than the desert.

Once they were close to ground, they jumped off instead of just climbing down the entire way.

Layla had always admired art; the inside of the library was a giant work of art to her... her _and _professor Zei. Ornate bookshelves, walls, and columns surrounded them. The group was standing on one of the bridges. Layla looked down from the edge of the bridge, revealing more bridges and what looked a lot like a deep abyss.

Then, they heard a footstep. It didn't really sound like a human's footstep. It seemed to sound like... a giant bird?

Startled by the footstep, the group ran to the columns and hid behind them. Aang, Katara, and Sokka at one, and Layla, Momo, and Zei at another. Aang and Layla looked at what was there. Their guess was right. It was a giant bird; a giant owl to be exact. It looked at the rope, and its eyes went up the rope, seeing where it came from. It turned its head in the group's direction. Layla and Aang quickly pulled their heads back.

"I know you're back there," the owl said. From the sound of its voice, it was obviously male.

Zei came from behind the column. When the group saw that nothing bad happened to him when he came out, they walked to greet the owl as well. Layla's light blue eyes stared into the large, dark eyes of the owl. Then her eyes went another direction.

"So you have the Avatar and the Double-bender with you," the owl said. "I am Wan-shi-tong, owner of the Wan-shi-tong library and 'he who knows 10,000 things.' And you are obviously humans. I must tell you that you are not allowed here."

"What do you have against humans?" Aang asked.

"Humans usually use the knowledge they have as weapons against other humans. And I dislike that."

Layla crossed her arms and responded to that answer. "Not ALL humans do that. From what I know, you can use the information to help the world."

"And now look at the world," Wan-shi-tong replied quickly, but still keeping his calm tone. "And your world as well."

_He even knows about the other world,_ Layla thought.

"Still," Layla said,"Can we please look around your library?"

"Fine," Wan-shi-tong answered. "But you have to promise me that you'll never abuse the knowledge in this library."

Aang and everyone else bowed to the intelligent owl, showing the fact that they promised.

The intelligent owl flew away.

"Well, let's get going!" Sokka said happily.

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**I wonder if I ever mentioned Layla's eye color... **

**Oh well. We'll just stick with light blue eyes. ^_^**

**And sorry this took soooooooo long!!**


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